I see Thomas Mulcair as having a lot in common with Stephen Harper the politician and Stephen Harper the man. Thomas Mulcair insists that Canadians must rid themselves of Stephen Harper in the next federal election and I agree with him on that, but would go on to say that a vote for the NDP with Thomas Mulcair at the helm would be subjecting ourselves to yet another 4 years of dictatorship, by yet another confused cowboy. I must say that looking at his career from start to just recently, Thomas Mulcair seems preoccupied with advancing his desire to lead rather than any particular political party line, or fundamental belief in the way things ought to be in this country. I think that he has proven that he is as ruthless as the big shark Stephen Harper and that he too will stop at nothing to get total power and keep it once he has gotten it.

I have tried my best to find some saving quality in Thomas Mulcair, but as of yet I can not find one single thing that would make me say, “Well okay I could vote for him because of this or that.” To me Thomas Mulcair comes off as though he thinks that he is better than everyone else in the room, in every way. I find him pretentious and exhibiting almost a greater lust for power than that exhibited by Stephen Harper. Thomas Mulcair is quick to ask the awkward question in the House of Commons of others, attacking them with the persistence and precision of a prosecuting attorney, but when his honesty, integrity and transparency are put to the question in the House of Commons he refuses to answer questions put to him in a direct, honest and transparent manner, choosing rather to ask a question of his own. It would seem that Thomas Mulcair’s and the NDP’s conduct are not so squeaky clean and perhaps Mr. Mulcair is not as worried about corruption in his own party as he should be considering the headlines of late. Thomas Mulcair seems quite content to allow his NDP to touch the fringe of corruption, that grey zone, the hard to prove corruption took place zone, if such corruption can be exploited for his and his party’s political gain, while pointing the finger at his opponents for their political misconduct.

Reasons I would not vote for Thomas Mulcair

During the senate scandal he ranted and raved about the Conservative Party of Canada helping out senators with their legal expenses, but when asked about the Liberal Party of Canada helping to pay his legal expenses when he was fighting a libel suit while a liberal party member he refused to answer or give explanation.

Then we have the business with the Gate keeper on parliament hill asking Mr. Mulcair for his identification and Mr. Mulcair driving through the gate ignoring the guard and continuing to ignore a patrol car signalling for him to pull over; only pulling when he felt like it. He avoided answering questions by not coming to the House of Commons and when he did decide to show up and respond said it was all just a big misunderstanding. Where is the misunderstanding in, “please show me your identification and you not doing what is asked of you, or, the police car siren is blaring signal lights are on and you ignore both of these things and keep driving?” I would ask again, “Where and what was the misunderstanding and who misunderstood who?”

The never-ending references and attacks where Justin Trudeau’s personal wealth is concerned makes him look angry, bitter and jealous in my eyes. Mr. Mulcair constantly implies that because Justin Trudeau inherited his wealth that he is incapable of understanding, or empathizing with the needs and desires of the middle class hardworking Canadian, or the very poor and most fragile of Canadians. Since when has this been proven, or is this just Mulcair’s personal opinion about those who were born into money; either way he will not get my vote until he grows up and realises that we should not be negatively bias stereotypically against those who are wealthy or those that are poor. What Mulcair implies about Justin Trudeau would be like suggesting that since the NDP has never governed Canada that they would are always talking out of their hat and would have no idea how the system works or should work.

The latest scandal concerning the offices has Mulcair allegedly using underhanded means, illegally methods and definitely tactics against the spirit of Canadian election rules and regulations tactics to charge his party’s advanced campaigning to the tax payers of Canada. This seemed to me like a politician and a political party that is not against taking advantage of rules when they figure they can get around them using a technicality, or a loophole, but scream foul when one of their opponents is doing it. I do not want to give my vote to this type of pompous hypocrite; we have one of those in office right now.

The main reason though is because Thomas Mulcair reminds me of Stephen Harper, with his arrogance and sense of entitlement, but Thomas Mulcair is much worse. Thomas Mulcair is worse because he pretends he cares about Canadians and that he and his party would never knowingly violate the laws of Canada, or the rules of his position and would work within the framework and spirit of democracy and yet we see time and again that given the opportunity to do the right difficult thing, Mulcair and his party choose the easy way out and begin to cheat, bend the truth and break the rules just like Stephen Harper and his strong, not so stable majority government.

I think that Thomas Mulcair is already tipsy with the power he has managed to acquire by jumping the Liberal Party of Canada for position and the promise of position rather than any overriding principle that just forced him to leave his party for that of another; in other words Thomas Mulcair went to where his career was more promising rather than where he thought that he could do the most good for Canadians, or to follow his political beliefs. I believe that Thomas Mulcair sold out to the highest bidder and in my opinion became merely a paid whore, who by outlasting all the other whores inherited and now runs the whorehouse. I have nothing against whores, or whorehouse, I think that they both have a long history in Canada and definitely fulfill a need for some Canadians. I know that the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that prostituting oneself was and is not illegal, but is that the type of person we really want heading our government and is that the kind of house we want the House of Commons turned into? I am afraid to contemplate Thomas Mulcair ever getting the power that would come to him if he were to win a majority NDP government. I am afraid to contemplate it because he is already tipsy with power, just being the official opposition leader of a moot official opposition party. I am afraid for Canada because what is in the news these day is not crime on the street growing out of control, but crime within all levels of government and across all party lines under the noses of party leaders who if are not involved in the scandal themselves are claiming that they had no knowledge of what was going on in their own parties.

Reading about Thomas Mulcair’s career in Wikipedia I came to the conclusion that all Thomas Mulcair cares about is the advancement of his personal ambitions. This is a little of what I read just to give you an idea of why I say the things I do about him, “A lawyer and university professor, Mulcair joined the federal NDP in 1974. He was the provincial Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Chomedey in Laval from 1994 to 2007, holding the seat for the Liberal Party of Quebec. He served as the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks from 2003 until 2006, in the Liberal government of Premier Jean Charest. Elected MP for Outremont in a by-election in 2007, he was named co-Deputy Leader of the NDP shortly afterwards, and has won re-election twice.”

Interesting note: Thomas Mulcair joined the federal NDP in 1994 and also held a seat for the Liberal Party of Quebec at the same time from 1994 until 2007, confirming my statement that Thomas Mulcair was for sale to the highest bidder and I do not think that a lot has changed in the way he sees party loyalty on his personal and professional level since then.

What has happened to the 76 Tamil refugee claimants aboard the Ocean Lady and the over 400 refugees from the Sun Sea since they were arrested and thrown in jail for daring to hope that they could find truth in our word that if they could make it to our shores that they would be welcomed embraced and be safe and does anyone still give a damn. Where is the press follow-up on this story, or have they simply moved on and consider it not newsworthy enough to pursue? Where is the official opposition, or the 3rd party on this one? Is it not they who constantly say that they are the conscience of the government, are they not the self-appointed part of government that holds the government to account, are they not the ones who state that they are the eyes, ears and voice of all Canadians; where are they? Where is our place of sober 2nd thought, the senate on this one and where are you the Canadian citizen?

Did you know or do you care how long these Tamil men, women and children were kept prisoner in Canadian jails without rights or access to timely justice while laws were rewritten and made retroactive so they could include their cases in an attempt to look like Canadian law was being followed and that justice was being done? Do you know how many of these Tamil people were actually not legitimate refugees, how many were deported and how many were accepted and how many Tamils who came seeking refuge are still in jail and do you care? If you do not care what happened to these Tamil men, women and children, have you asked yourself why and what that says who we as Canadians consider legitimate refugees and how and when they can attempt to seek refuge in our country?

The position of the Harper government appears to be that there was never a valid reason and there still is no valid reason for any Sri Lankan national to flee their homeland and seek refugee status in Canada. What this means is that if there are no recognized Sri Lankan refugees than all Sri Lankans fleeing to Canada without their papers in order to seek sanctuary are viewed by Canadian law and immigration authorities as immigration line jumpers and subject to the laws of Canada where illegal immigration is concerned. The really sick part of all of this, is that the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenny, Canada’s Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Canada’s President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway Stockwell Day tried to pass this rewriting of Canadian immigration laws off as being in the best interest of all those seeking and waiting to immigrate to Canada, but more importantly being legislation put forward and needed to protect immigrants such as the Tamils aboard the Ocean Lady and the MV Sun Sea from being exploited by people traffickers and so was in their best interest.

What this means is that if you are a Tamil fleeing for your life and those of your family the Canadian government is demanding that you go to the closest refugee camp in your area of the world and seek help from the Canadian officials you may find there and they may be able to help you to immigrate to Canada. The waiting time for people waiting in refugee camps to immigrate to Canada legally is 10 years and many of these refugee camps are just as dangerous to be in for refugees as the countries they are fleeing from. The death rate of those waiting in these death camps/ refugee camps by starvation, disease, and violence is mind-boggling and yet this is what the Canadian government is demanding that innocent men, women and children need to go through if they want to be accepted into Canada. Canada should be ashamed of our new laws that insist that people put themselves through this for even one day not to mention 10 years before they can have their case heard, but alas this is not the case; in fact this government led by Stephen Harper is proud of their new laws and do not care of people suffering, unless their suffering can be turned into a Canadian bottom line profit. Stephen Harper and his conservative government know that rape, prostitution and the pimping of children are just some of the realities which women and children face daily if they want to eat, or if they want to continue living literally and they say that we have told them as a nation that, “We do not care about how you are made to suffer, or whether or not your lives are in danger; come with the proper documentation and through the proper channels or we will put you in jail indefinitely when you arrive in our country.

It is interesting to note that a story written by Stewart Bell in the National Post/ February 6, 2012/Last Updated: Feb 6 11:o2 PM ET is the most current and most up to date accounting that I can find of what happened to the Sri Lankan refugee claimants found on board either the Ocean Lady in which saw them arrested in 2009, or the Sri Lankan refugee claimants found on board the MV Sun Sea arrested in 2010 in which he writes:

“More than two years after the Ocean Lady arrived off Vancouver Island in 2009 carrying 76 Sri Lankan asylum seekers; only one has been accepted as a refugee so far, according to newly released Immigration and Refugee Board figures. Another has been ordered deported and the remaining claims are pending.”

“Of the 492 Sri Lankans who arrived in 2010 aboard the MV Sun Sea, only three have been recognized as refugees while 13 claims have been withdrawn and five abandoned. The remainder of the cases are scheduled to be dealt with over the next few months.”

This is a deadly time for you if you are a human being feeling that your life and your family’s lives are in danger and are living in a country that Canada has deemed as being on its safe and free from oppression list as was the case of Sri Lanka. It has since been proved that the Canadian government was wrong in their assessment of the danger and oppression and crimes against humanity that these Tamils faced daily and the real sense of life threatening danger that had them flee with nothing and willing to pay anything to anyone to get away from Sri Lanka and hopefully find safety in Canada, but as you can see by the story which is the latest update to either story I could find on the situation, this new knowledge has done little to right the wrong that our government has done to these people who sought refuge from oppression in our country.

I do not know if as a people or as a nation we Canadians will ever care enough about stories like this to cover them to their final end, or as a people demand to be updated on the progress of such arrests of people who should be considered innocent until proven guilty, but it is clear to me that it is not the case right now. So far it is only when the rights of gays are being violated abroad and when they feel or it is known that they are in danger of being put in jail, or in a life threatening position that Canada steps up to the plate and government ministers get directly involved, secretly fast tracking from behind the scenes those endangered gays removal from their homelands and accepted into Canada as refugees. I have nothing against saving these gays in danger, but ask the question instead, “Why the gays and not the Tamils of Sri Lanka that were aboard the Ocean Lady, or the MV Sun Sea?”. I also find it interesting that the story of Rob Ford smoking crack has received greater news coverage Canadians with no shortage of updates and ran longer than the story of over 560 innocent Tamil men, women and children refugee claimants thrown into jail. I say innocent because after all this time in jail they have yet to have a decision rendered on their cases one way or the other. What all this means is that the Canadian government considers Tamil men women and children claiming refugee status to be a threat to national security, by virtue of them being Tamils and have legalised their belief through legislation; how is that for Canadian justice?

There are some interesting contradictions as far as Canadian policy is concerned when it comes to what the State of Israel has done in the Middle East for which it gets unconditional support from Canada, the USA and the members of European Union and what Russia has done with the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula for which it has received the condemnation of the west. Canada has broken diplomatic relations with Russia and the rest of the west although keeping the lines of communications open have tried to restrict the travel of certain Russians and their supporters in a theatrical effort to punish and alienate Russia. Canada, the USA and the European Union are also trying to bring down the Russia’s economy through sanctions and reducing its ability to access international banking.

If we take a look at the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and the reason they give for them like,

The protection of Israel itself.

The protection of the illegal settlers who are Israeli nationals.

The protection of their real boarders

I think it becomes easier to see that governments such as Canada employ double standards when it comes to,

Dealing with what a country can do to maintain its interests in any given area.

Keeping its nationals safe when they live in another sovereign country.

Protecting its boarders and its people from outside threats.

Canada has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that if it considers you a friend, or an ally such as it does Israel than you can,

Illegally occupy, resettle and kill with impunity.

Get unconditional, non wavering support from the government of Canada for what it would without such a friendship deem to be crimes against humanity and attempt to seek justice and attempt to put right, by any means necessary.

Now on the other hand if you are a nation that Canada does no consider to be a friend, or an ally such as is the case with Russia then the Canadian government will condemn you as a nation for doing the same thing as one of their friends or allies are doing and will,

Impose sanctions, embargoes and no fly zones in an attempt to injury your country’s economy and hurt your people so you will have no choice but to agree to our terms.

Close our embassy in your land and your embassy in our country, expel your diplomats in an effort to isolate your country on an international level.

If you are militarily weaker than us and we can be assured that will not lose too many soldiers, attack you from the air, ground and sea.

I think for this reason Vladimir Putin of Russia missed a golden opportunity to expose Canadian government the government of the United States, the governments of the European Union for the hypocrites that they truly are, by making no reference to the State of Israel and its occupation and resettling of lands that do not belong to them in any of his speeches. I believe that the member states of the Western Alliance should never talk about international law and the need and importance to respect the sovereignty of your neighbors borders, because no one believes a word that they say anymore except them. Putin should have used the Israeli / Palestinian conflict as an example of the west’s hypocrisy instead of what transpired in Kosovo to expose the true purpose of the west’s opposition to Crimea becoming part of Russia again. I feel that:

As long as the members of the Western Alliance continues its unconditional support of Israel’s right to hold onto the lands it took by force and is holding onto by force from its sovereign neighbor state then the USA, Canada and the member states of the European Union have no basis for their sanctions against Russia, or its supporters for its role in supporting the annexation of Crimea and its becoming a part of Russia once again.

As long as the members of the Western Alliance are guilty of aiding and abetting Israel in grabbing more territory from its neighbors in the Middle East in the form of Israel’s continuous building of permanent settlements on land that is not theirs, but the sovereign land of its neighbor, these western nations have no business telling Russia or Crimea about violating international law, or the sanctity of another nation’s borders.

As long as the United Nations stands by their 1947 plan that saw the state of Israel, unjustifiably and illegally carved out of the sovereign nation of Palestine without invitation, consultation, or consent, but by military force at the whim of a group of nations looking to appease their consciences and make restitution to the Jews of Europe for the Holocaust that these countries allowed to happen they should stop throwing stones at Russia over Crimea. These so called democratic countries, these seekers of justice did not give up Texas, London, or Paris in an effort to give the displaced Jews of Europe a homeland but instead gave up the land of another to pay their perceived debt. The Middle East has not seen peace since. As long as this decision is being supported as democratic and hailed by these nations as fair and just, it will always be acceptable to do what Russia is being condemned for doing to Ukraine.

It seems that western foreign policy is being based on whether the Western Alliance likes you or not, or whether we share common values, or politics instead of international law and for a long time now the west has been pushing the boundaries of international law, twisting it and molding it to suit its purposes and when it will not be twisted we invent new bodies like the Western Alliance, the Coalition of the Willing for example and bad mouth existing international bodies like the United Nations and even NATO and in the case of The USA the World Court .

Ask yourself why are so many people in so many different areas in Ukraine are literally putting their lives on the line to join what appears to be a re-emergence of the Soviet Union? Why are these citizens of Ukraine rising up against Ukraine instead of fighting to stay in what is being portrayed by the west as a democratic nation that respects the rights and freedoms of all of it citizens and is in compliance with the international treaties and laws it is a signature state to? If we in the Western Alliance are able to say that what goes on in the Middle East is relevant and important to our national security and way of life, how could we in all honesty and common sense hope to Russia who shares borders with Ukraine, has military bases in Ukraine and has a vital history with Ukraine that the Ukraine is not as vital to Russia as Israel is to the Western Alliance?

That the people of Crimea and the parliament of Crimea actually wanted to be part of Russia is the only difference in what Russia is doing in contrast to what Israel is doing in the Middle East. No one invited the 2nd world war Jewish survivors to carve out the State of Israel from an existing sovereign State of Palestine with the military might of the UN, or any of the land grabs and resettlement of Jews further into the occupied Palestinian lands since 1967. Look at what is left of Palestine and tell me again how bad the Russians are and how great the Israelis are? There is something wrong with the way that the west thinks and they really need to stop and rethink what they are doing in the world. The countries not considered our friends are getting tired of the duplicity, the hypocrisy and the double standard when it comes to invasion and empire building and are beginning to stand up and follow our lead and carve out more of the world for itself. Since all areas of the world are already spoken for they have decided to take what they want using our methods of, “Making an offer best not refused”.

I do not care what language you speak, you would have to consider what transpired during the final debate anything but debating by the four political party leaders. The leaders decided to have a screaming match instead and reduced what could have been an informative last chance for Quebecers to hear their plans for Quebec into a contest whose sole purpose was to see who could smear ones opponents the most and the loudest. Rather than take the opportunity to let Quebecers know what their plans were for a better, stronger and non corrupt Quebec all candidates ceased every opportunity to sling mud. All that was missed from it being the “Maury Show” starring Maury Povich, was the debaters rushing to the center of the stage for a brawl. I was left feeling that I was watching my 4-year-old grandson and his 18 month old sister argue over a favorite toy rather than 4 people trying to convince me why it was that they were they were the right candidate to get my vote. At the end of the debate there were so many people talking at once that I could not understand one word that anyone of them were saying and I ended up with a splitting headache wishing that someone /anyone would take control of these rude children and put each ones nose into a corner for a time out.

Even taking all of that into consideration, Pauline Maoris in my opinion came off rude and obnoxious, instead of mature, experienced and confident. It seems unlikely that this politician would be able to follow the 3 basic simple rules of debating, (a)listening to others, (b)waiting her turn to speak and (c)following the moderators instructions. I was not left with the impression that Pauline Marois would be any differently and listen to all who had something to say concerning the running of Quebec if she was given the chance to govern Quebec with a majority government. Paulina Marois had to be repeatedly admonished for interrupting, talking over the other debaters and finally the moderator had to threaten to turn off her microphone to try to get her to act like a mature adult and not a toddler just learning her manners. I think that she has never recovered from the debate and in fact has lost numbers in the polls. Allegations of her husbands not so transparent and perhaps illegal business activities have hurt her and she is once again threatening legal action as she did when her and her husband were accused of shady dealings to get the a permit to build their mansion on property designated as protected farmland not to be built on.

I do not think Marois saw the protest by the French university students coming and it was a surprise that she really did not need. Pauline Marois tried to cut off the head of the snake when she got one of the leaders to run in the last election and I guess when another student protest leader decided to run for her party she thought that she had the student vote in the bag, but if the protest the other night in Montreal is any indication of how these students eligible to vote feel about her, I doubt very much if she can count on their vote. the students said they were marching to voce their disapproval of what they are calling Pauline Marois’s austerity measures. This protest was directed solely at Pauline Marois and I think that it has a lot to do with her marching with them, promising them to not raise tuition fees if they elected her, using them to bring down the Liberal government and the backing out of the deal and raising tuitions as soon as she got elected with their votes. This time Pauline Marois is the focus of the ire of the same students that helped her to defeat the Liberals and for the same reason. I think she is understanding now that a vote gotten on false promises may get you elected, but rarely get you re-elected.

A definite drop in the polls and a hindrance to her winning the election in my opinion was the bringing on board of media, mogul, Pierre Péladeau. Pierre Péladeau, was a bad choice for the Parti Quebecoise to introduce as the star candidate who would be advising Pauline Marois and her party in the areas of economy and job creation and this is why:

Pierre Péladeau has been called the worst boss to work for in Quebec and was personally responsible for locking out thousands of workers in Quebec. He is neither respected, or liked among the working middle class in Quebec.

When being introduced to Quebecers on television, by Madam Marois as a star candidate he immediately took upon himself to reawaken the referendum debate, which Pauline Marois and the Parti Quebecoise did not want to focus on as their priority for this election and in fact said they would not be asking for until the situation was deemed as winnable conditions.

Pierre Péladeau’s, inheriting the benefits of someone else’s hard work does not make him some kind of economic guru and this inheritor will not help the Parti Quebecoise in this field, unless being rich is the one and only criteria.

Pierre Péladeau likes to hog the camera which was so obvious that Pauline Marois had to shove him back in line when he attempted to steal the camera and attention on a televised photo opt.

Everyone with half a brain knows that Pierre Péladeau would love to have Pauline Marois job and some in the hardliners in the Parti Quebecoise see this as grooming experience for him.

A major problem for the Parti Quebecoise and Pauline Marois is that now that it is clear that Quebecers do not want even a whisper of a referendum and have voiced clearly that they which to remain a province in Quebec the party and Pauline Marois have lost their reason for existence, or as she would say her raison d’être. This lack of a reason to exist has Pauline Marois constantly trying to create and issues and problems that just do not exist anymore. This constant fear mongering is an attempt to make the French people of Quebec feel that they are in danger of losing their language, culture and distinctiveness as a province to the Anglophones and the Allophones, hoping in all of this to rekindle the passion and desire through stress, tension and fear the desire for a nation called Quebec instead of a province called Quebec. This grasping at anything to rekindle the sovereignty quest was responsible for the embarrassing “Pastagate” affair in 2013, the violence directed towards tourists speaking English visiting Montreal,the harassing of English-speaking Quebec citizens in restaurants, line ups and the refusal of bus drivers and metro attendants to even give direction to enquiries in any language but French, all exercises that do little to help Quebec’s economy, prosperity and financial well-being.

The creation of the Charter of Quebec Values has exposed the petty and out right racist level to which the quest for an independent Quebec has sunken too internationally and has helped unite the Anglophones and the Allophones in a common cause to defeat her at all costs, or lose their religious freedoms as well as their linguistic freedoms. The attempt by the Parti Quebecoise and Madam Marois to make the Charter of Quebec Values it main issue in this election has helped to expose the true cost that all Quebecers have had to pay in matters that truly count to them like finding a job, caring for the elderly, the economy, the high taxes, the loss of outside businesses expanding to Quebec and the businesses that were already operating in Quebec moving out. The people of Quebec are just plain tired of the poverty that this sovereignty issue has forced them to endure year after year, because of the climate of political uncertainty and unrest that the question brings. I think that Pauline Marois said it best herself when responding to a reporter’s question of what she would do differently if she had a 2nd chance and she replied, “I would not answer your questions about our party’s intentions on calling a referendum.”

If the Parti Quebecoise has changed its priority as a government I think that they should state it clearly, or reaffirm its goal of achieving a sovereign Quebec nation, so that Quebecers can vote with clarity and confidence that they are not being duped into voting for a political party with a false agenda.

I just do not get it! I do not understand what exactly the Chinese family members want Malaysia Airlines, or the Malaysian government to do that they are not doing now. I do not understand either why day after day the media is throwing fuel unto the fire by doing their best to make it appear that the Malaysian government and the airline could be doing something more to reassure, appease and inform the families of those lost. I sympathise with the families that have lost love ones, but they are not the first nor will they be the last that will lose family members, loved ones and friends to an airplane crash, or other such tragic, but unavoidable accidents. The facts are what they are and I do not see how what these families and the media are doing in any way changes, or helps anything. Every possible expert in every field that is relevant to this tragic turn of events has stated that all that could have been done and should be done is being done and how difficult if not impossible it will be to find flight HM370. I find it disrespectful of those doing the search from countries all over the world to insist that somehow they are all involved in a grandiose conspiracy to hide what might have really happened to the airplane and the people on it.

There are a lot of things that could have happened to that airplane causing it to malfunction and go down without leaving a trace from total electrical failure causing total loss of control of the airplane, to a terrorist act, but they cannot be proven. Certain things are known like the direction that the airplane was heading in when it was last heard from, how much fuel should have been less and approximately how far it could have flown in if certain conditions were met and it is these facts that are determining how the search is being carried out. That the family members cannot or will not accept the fact that their family friends and loved ones have died in a tragic airplane crash in very deep treacherous waters where everyday weather conditions make searching difficult, dangerous and next to impossible. It is not the fault of Malaysia Airlines, or the Malaysian government and I fail to see how the press dragging out their own experts to give their guesses and views on how they would hypothetically handle the situation is doing anything constructive and in fact I would accuse them of trying to profit off the hurt and tragic loss of the families in this accident and of those families who have suffered this kind of devastating lost I the past, like those of the Air France airplane that went down and took 2 years to find. Both were accidents, all that could be done was, but both sets of families I feel are having their emotions toyed with by a press who seeks to jerk every possible tear and rub raw every emotional scar in a bid to make a more sellable story.

Then there are the governments like Australia who have more or less taken over the co-ordination of the search and for their efforts I commend them, but why is it that when they set up their special task force did they have to make a statement that they will be family driven in their approach when dealing with the lost travelers families; almost insinuating that the Malaysian government and airlines have not been? The airline and Malaysian government sending a delegation to China, flying some of the family of those lost to Malaysia and the willingness to fly family members to Perth if there is proof that something has been found, is not enough family orientated behaviour for Australia? I will ask again what exactly other than the ridiculous demands for a truth that the families will not listen to, a demand that their loved ones be returned to them and a non scientific claim that the search should be done over land can the Malaysian government and the airlines do to convince these grieving and stubborn family members that all that could be done has been done?

I could be wrong, but I do not know of any other instance where an airplane has gone missing and the government and an airline have had their integrity put into such disrepute. The families and the press are not calling the airline or the Malaysian government negligent over faulty safety measures, but rather over the quality of the search and the accuracy and transparency of the information about the crash and all information arising from the search itself and the way it is being presented to the families of those who have lost loved ones in the crash. Is what is going on now with the search for flight HM370 to be the norm and the new minimum standard for searches and rescues that governments and airlines throughout the world will have to engage in to prove that they are doing all that they can do and are indeed committed to the search and are being open, honest and transparent with whatever information they relay to the loved one’s of the dead?

Is there now to be no presumed dead finding until the airplane is found and how will that affect closure and insurance pay offs for those families and other benefits and changes that cannot be settled before the presumption of death is established and acknowledged legally by the authorities? In the past this has always been a major stumbling block for widows and family members claiming any kind of after death benefits such as pensions, life insurance, inheritance, access to bank accounts, because bodies were not found, or the wreckage. I just feel that it is a slippery slope that the Chinese relatives are starting to climb and they better hope that the airlines and the Malaysian government does not take the out and refuse to declare their loved ones dead before they find the airplane, or the passengers.

If this is to be the new standard in search and rescue who is going to pay for it, the consumer, the airlines, the government? Is there ever going to be a risk free flight and do we hold, or try to hold airlines and government accountable after the fact for the risks that we knowingly take getting on an airplane if the we are injured, or loose people in an airplane crash that all knew was a possibility? Is it realistic for anyone to believe that the family and friends could ever be satisfied that enough has been done in a search and are they really the ones best suited to run the search effort? I for one do not think that they have the technical expertise. Finally while all of the resources are searching for this one plane where no survivors are possible of being found to please a group of parents and family that will not be consoled and are stubbornly holding onto to what I consider anger for what I do not know, how many possible rescues will go without adequate equipment, manpower and what it takes to find their loved ones and is this fair?